Applicator in the shape of a spiral with a supporting core

ABSTRACT

A cosmetic applicator for applying a substance to keratin fibers is disclosed herein. In an embodiment, the cosmetic applicator includes a guiding element and a coil spring element. The guiding element is positioned in a central area of the coil spring element. The coil spring element winds more than one time completely around the guiding element and has spikes protruding in an outward direction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. National Stage application of International Application No. PCT/EP2020/067038, filed Jun. 18, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference and relied upon.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present disclosure is directed to a cosmetic applicator.

Background Information

Internally the applicant has already given thought to the question to use a standard metallic coil spring as a cosmetic applicator element which allows to store plenty of cosmetic mass inside.

However it has turned out that a standard metallic coil is not appropriate to grant a proper application behaviour. This is since the metallic surface of the coil is coated rather uniformly by cosmetic mass so that such an applicator does not allow to clearly define where the area treated with the cosmetics ends. Moreover such a metallic coil is too stiff.

The same applies to the idea to use plastic coils with a coil wire being thick enough in order to make the coil sufficiently stable.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present disclosure to make an applicator available that is able to store an increased amount of the cosmetic mass which can be squeezed out without problems in order to make it available during a running application procedure while the applicator allows a precise application with well-defined separation lines.

According to the present disclosure it is proposed to solve a problem by means of an applicator device that consists of a guiding element and a coil spring element. The guiding element is positioned in the central area of the coil spring element. The coil spring element is winding more than one time completely around the guiding element. According to the present disclosure the coil spring element carries spikes protruding in an outward direction from the coil spring element.

As long as the coil spring element is not biased and displaced by forces occurring under application it is distant from the core. The interspace between the interior jacket area of the coil spring element and the outer jacket area of the guiding element forms an increased reservoir for the cosmetic mass which remains sticking to the applicator when being pulled out of the reservoir through the wiper in its bottle neck. An important point is that the tubular wiper being preferably used for such applicators is not able to substantially displace the windings of the coil spring element in a radial direction—this is since the coil spring element is supported at all its sides by the said wiper so that it could only be compressed symmetrically but not be displaced in radial direction locally/asymmetrically. That way the wiper is not able to wipe off too much of the cosmetics stored in the intermediate space between the spring element and the guiding element.

During the application the coil spring element is not supported at all sides along its whole circumference. If the coil spring element is designed appropriately it can now be locally deformed by pressing it against the surface to be treated. That way a smaller or bigger amount of the stored cosmetic mass will be squeezed out through the interspaces of the neighbored windings in a direction toward the surface to be treated. Hereby the guiding element plays an important role since it hinders the cosmetic mass to be displaced in direction opposite to the portion of the coil spring element that is actually going to be deformed and pressed in a radial inward direction. Such a displacement is unintended since it reduced the amount of cosmetic mass going to be squeezed out in direction toward the surface to be treated.

Moreover the guiding element allows to design the coil spring element soft since it hinders every excessive local deformation of the coil spring element which could cause a smudging application behavior of the applicator since too much of the stored cosmetic mass has been squeezed out at one time.

It has turned out as an important improvement that the coil spring element carries spikes protruding in an outward direction. After each local compression of the coil spring element the spikes protrude out of the film of newly squeezed out cosmetic mass which coats the coil spring element as such. That way the spikes form spacers between the film of cosmetic mass and the surface or fiber to be treated which allow at any time a precise application without a blurred smudging area.

Preferably the coil spring element has a number of windings that continuously turn around the guiding element without being itself or by means of a strut in contact with the guiding element.

That way, it is made sure that the coil spring element is not too stiff, so that the coil spring element can be displaced under impact of regular application forces.

In most cases the distance (“free air space”) between the innermost jacket surface of each turn of the coil spring element and of the outer jacket of the guiding element radially below it is constant—fully or essentially. That guarantees a uniform application behavior.

Preferably the guiding element is arranged in a centered position within the coil spring element. That way the application properties of the applicator are symmetrical which makes the application more convenient and fail safe—the applicant needs not to pay attention how he turns the applicator around its longitudinal axis before bringing it into contact with the skin, lashes or hairs to be treated.

It is preferred that the windings of the coil spring element are continuously curved from the very beginning to the outer end. That way edges, steps or kinks within the coil spring are avoided which would deteriorate the uniformity of the application result.

According to the present disclosure it is preferably provided that the coil spring element is elastic such that a number of its turns can be brought into contact with the circumferential jacket surface of the guiding element by means of fully reversible elastic deformation. That way the interspace formed between the coil spring element and the jacket of the guiding element can be exploited perfectly. Nearly all of the cosmetic mass deposited in the interspace can be squeezed out in direction toward the actual application area by bringing the local winding of the coil spring element in contact with the jacket of the guiding element.

In most cases it is provided that the beginning and the end of the coil spring element (and ideally only the beginning and the end of the coil spring element) are anchored on the guiding element, preferably on the circumferential jacket of the guiding element and ideally by means of a radially extending interconnection strut.

As soon as the layout of the coil spring element awards a sufficient elasticity to the coil spring element in an axial direction it becomes possible to move local portions of the coil spring element back and forth in the axial direction, for example under the influence of scrubbing over the skin to be treated. That awards a novel application behavior and influences the amount of mass which can be squeezed out.

It is preferred to manufacture the coil spring element of polymer material, which forms the majority of or at least the essential part of the coil spring element to award the necessary elasticity to it. In this case the preferred manufacturing method is an additive manufacturing method.

Ideally the coil spring element including its spikes and the guiding element are made as an integral “one-piece-part” without any joints between them. That is the matter of choice to provide filigree structures that are so soft, so elastic and so “break-proof” as it is required for reaching the effect taught herein.

Ideally the coil spring element and the guiding element are made of the same material.

It is advantageous if the average diameter of the guiding element is at least ten times bigger than the average diameter of the “wire” of the coil spring element. Normally the guiding element does not or essentially does not bend under the influence of the forces exerted to deform the coil spring element during application.

A preferred layout provides that the guide element has a barrel-like shape with a smaller diameter in the beginning and at the end. Ideally the coil spring element has a shape following the shape of the guide element, preferably a barrel-like shape with a smaller diameter in the beginning and at the end.

In other cases the guide element may have the following shape: A non-symmetrical shape between the beginning and the end of the core.

It is preferred that the coil spring element carries spikes in the shape of bristles, or even better since being more stable, in the shape of chisel tips. The spikes extend in outward direction from the spring element. It is preferred if the direction is a full or an essentially full radial outward direction.

For avoiding that the applicator is too prone to smudging it can be important that the spring element carries over at least the major part of its length preferably of its entire length spikes. The spikes are ideally arranged in a repeating identical pattern. It is worth to pay attention that directly neighbored spikes are not too distant from each other. Otherwise they cannot or not sufficiently act as spacers as explained before. The distance should ideally not be bigger than more of 5 times (in particular if the spikes are long but elastically deformable bristles) or at least not be more than 2.5 times bigger (if the spikes are rigid but not very high) than the extension of the spike in its root area.

It is preferred that the spikes are integrally formed together with the coil spring element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a general view of a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged portion of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the proximal end of the embodiment according to FIG. 1, close to the transition into the coupler.

FIG. 4 shows the distal end of the embodiment according to FIG. 1, close to the free tip of the applicator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a complete view of the preferred embodiment of the cosmetics applicator 1. The cosmetic applicator shown here is used as a mascara applicator. It is designed accordingly.

The applicator 1 comprises a guiding element 2 in the shape of a core.

The guiding element 2 has a longitudinal axis L. According to the illustrated embodiment the core integrally transitions into a coupling element 3, along its longitudinal axis. The coupling element 3 makes it possible to couple the applicator 1 to a stem of a handle which is not shown here. As an alternative it is an option that the core is integral with the stem itself. This is not shown here, too.

Preferably the guiding element 2 has a fully or essentially round cross-section. It is preferred that the diameter of the guiding element 2 increases from both ends toward the middle of the guiding element 2. Preferably the increase is a steady increase. In the illustrated embodiment, the guiding element 2 has a barrel-like shape. That is convenient since the user does not need to control the orientation of the applicator at all times, since the application behaviour is all the same in circumferential direction.

As can be clearly seen the guiding element 2 carries a coil-spring-element 4.

The coil-spring-element 4 forms a continuous spiral, i. e. a kind of helical “wire”. The spiral preferably winds more than 10 times completely around the guiding element 2. As can be best seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the coil-spring-element 4 processes only at the outer ends of its spiral fixing portions 6 which form an interconnection with the guiding element 2. For that purpose the fixing portions 6 are preferably embodied as struts radially extending in inward direction. Ideally the struts are integral as well with the spiral as with the guiding element 2.

It is preferred that the outer diameter of the spiral as a whole pictures the diameter of the guiding element 2. With other words if the diameter of the guiding element 2 increases, the outer diameter of the spiral as a whole increases, too. In this particular case the increase awards a barrel-like profile to the spiral as a whole, too. This has the advantage that the applicator does not automatically come into contact with the surface to be treated along its whole length. Instead such a contacting along the whole length takes place only when the applicator is pressed onto the surface to be treated—so that the middle portion of the spiral is deformed in radial inward direction. That way the applicant can choose freely whether she wants to apply more punctually or whether she wants to “think big”, meaning to apply over a longer area.

In most cases the spiral as the guiding element 2 consists from polymer material. Normally the material of the spiral and the material of the guiding element 2 is identical. In this case the spiral and the guiding element 2 form one integral and monolithic part with no joint separating them from each other.

According to the present disclosure it is recommended that the diameter DS of the spiral itself (that means of its “wire”) is everywhere smaller than the diameter DG of the guiding element 2. In most cases the relation DS/DG is strictly smaller than 7, preferably strictly smaller than 10.

In most cases the free distance FD (seen in longitudinal direction) between one spiral and the directly neighbouring next spiral of the core-spring-element is more than 1.5 that are more than 2.5 times of the diameter DS of the spiral.

The spiral itself (that means its wire) has preferably at least a semi-round cross section with a flattened internal surface or sometimes a fully round cross section.

The coil-spring-element carries spikes 5. The spikes 5 have here the form of a chisel tip. Ideally the extension of each chisel tip along the circumference of the spiral is at least 4 times bigger, than the extension of the chisel tip perpendicularly, that means essentially in longitudinal direction of the guiding element, too.

In most cases the spikes 5 are positioned in longitudinal direction as a single row—one, after another along a helical line defined by the spiral of the coil spring element.

The distance DIF between the inner surface of the spiral and the below positioned jacket of the guiding element to is normally bigger than ¼ of the diameter DG of the guiding element, too.

That way the spiral becomes very elastic.

Even the rather small forces—as they may occur during lash treatment—are sufficient in order to displace a local portion of the spiral essentially. However, it is the guiding element 2 which makes sure that the said displacement does not become too extreme. Since the free space between the spiral and the guiding element 2 serves—in particular in case of a mascara applicator, but not limited to it—as a store for cosmetic mass it is rather easy to make a rather high quantity of fresh cosmetic mass accessible during application—without dipping the applicator again before.

As soon as the spiral is locally displaced in the radial inward direction under the influence of the forces occurring during lash treatment a part of the stored cosmetic mass is squeezed out through the free interspaces between the windings of the spiral and can now be freely applied by the user.

At this occasion the spikes make sure that plenty of the cosmetic mass coating the spiral now can be distributed and applied precisely.

Additional protection is sought for a cosmetic unit comprising a cosmetic applicator according to the present disclosure and a cosmetic container with a bottle neck and a wiper therein. The wiper has a tubular shape contacting the coil spring element of the applicator during pullout that way that the coil spring element undergoes only such a radial compressing force that is symmetric. According to the present disclosure the coil spring element is designed that way that it withstands the symmetric radial compressive force. At the same time it is designed that way that it deforms and evades under the influence of an only local radial compressing force that acts at one side of the circumference only.

Further design possibilities, technical effects and advantages become apparent from the present description of the preferred embodiment shown by the figures.

Additional protection is sought, in addition and independently, for the use of a cosmetic applicator as a mascara applicator for lash cosmetics.

Additional protection is sought, in addition and independently, for the use of a cosmetic applicator as a massage applicator for lip cosmetics or anti-aging serum. 

1. A cosmetic applicator for applying a substance to keratin fibers, the cosmetic applicator comprising: a guiding element and a coil spring element winding more than one time completely around the guiding element and having spikes protruding in an outward direction.
 2. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the coil spring element has a number of windings that continuously turn around the guiding element without a strut in contact with the guiding element.
 3. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the guiding element is arranged in a centered position within the coil spring element.
 4. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein windings of the coil spring element are continuously curved from beginning to an outer end.
 5. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the coil spring element is elastic such that a number of its turns can be brought into contact with a circumferential jacket surface of the guiding element by reversible elastic deformation.
 6. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein a beginning and an end of the coil spring element are anchored on the guiding element.
 7. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the coil spring element is made of a polymer material.
 8. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein, the coil spring element and the guiding element are made of a same material.
 9. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein an average diameter of the guiding element is at least ten times bigger than an average diameter of the coil spring element.
 10. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the guiding element has a barrel-like shape with a smaller diameter in a beginning and at an end.
 11. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the coil spring element has a shape following a shape of the guiding element.
 12. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 1, wherein the coil spring element includes peaks.
 13. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 12, wherein the coil spring element includes the peaks over at least a majority of its length.
 14. The cosmetic applicator according to claim 12, wherein the peaks are integrally formed together with the coil spring element.
 15. A cosmetic unit comprising the cosmetic applicator according to claim 1 and a cosmetic container with a bottle neck and a wiper therein, wherein the wiper has a tubular shape contacting the coil spring element of the cosmetic applicator during pullout such that the coil spring element undergoes only such a radial compressing force that is symmetric, while the coil spring element is configured to withstand the symmetric radial compressing force, while deforming and evading under influence of a local radial compressing force that acts at one side of a circumference only.
 16. The cosmetic applicator of claim 6, wherein the beginning and the end of the coil spring element are anchored on a circumferential jacket of the guiding element.
 17. The cosmetic applicator of claim 6, wherein the beginning and the end of the coil spring element are anchored on the guiding element by at least one radially extending interconnection strut.
 18. The cosmetic applicator of claim 11, wherein the coil spring element has a barrel-like shape with a smaller diameter at a beginning and at an end.
 19. The cosmetic applicator of claim 12, wherein the peaks are shaped as bristles or chisel tips and extend in a radially outward direction from the coil spring element.
 20. The cosmetic applicator of claim 12, wherein the peaks are arranged in a repeating identical pattern. 